Phyllis Thaxter
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Phyllis Thaxter (born Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter November 20, 1921 in Portland, Maine) is an actress.
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[edit] Early life and career
She is the daughter of Maine Supreme Court Justice Sidney Thaxter and a one-time Shakespearean actress. Thaxter, taking after her mother, worked as a Broadway actress in the 1930s and eventually signed an MGM contract in 1944. Her movie debut was opposite Van Johnson in the war-time film Thirty Seconds over Tokyo. At MGM, she usually played the ever-patient wife to a number of leading men, including Robert Ryan in Act of Violence (1948). One of her more memorable roles was also in 1948, playing a cattle owner's daughter alongside Barbara Bel Geddes in Blood on the Moon. She changed studios in the 1950s, moving to Warner Brothers, but usually played the same type of roles.
[edit] Later career
Thaxter's career stalled after an attack of infantile paralysis, while visiting her family in Portland, in 1952. She, however, made a slow comeback in character parts in television, movies and the stage. In 1978, Thaxter was cast along with Glenn Ford as Ma and Pa Kent in Superman.
[edit] Personal
While at MGM, Phyllis married James T. Aubrey, Jr., who later became president of CBS-TV and MGM. They divorced in 1962. Their daughter is Skye Aubrey, who acted in many made-for-TV films in the 1970s.
[edit] Partial filmography
- Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1944)
- Week-End at the Waldorf (1945)
- Living in a Big Way (1947)
- Blood on the Moon (1948)
- Act of Violence (1948)
- No Man of Her Own (1950)
- The Breaking Point (1950)
- Jim Thorpe -- All-American (1951)
- Superman (1978)
